Overview
Dundee continues to thrive as the longest established UK hub for games, maintaining its place as an important centre for the sector since the 1980s. It is the birthplace of classic franchises like Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto, the latter of which has gone on to sell more than 350 million copies worldwide, as well as more recent viral hits and world-leading gaming tech that’s being applied in other sectors. Partly in thanks to these and other video games that have contributed to the city’s well-established design industry, Dundee was awarded the UK’s first ever UNESCO City of Design designation in 2014.
A gaming powerhouse
Gaming is more than just a pastime – as a creative industry it is a major economic engine which is forecast to be worth £254 billion globally by 2026, according to PwC. The UK’s creative sector has the potential to bring an extra £50 billion to the economy and support one million more jobs by 2030, according to the UK Government’s Creative Industries Sector Vision. Moreover, Dundee’s games industry together with other knowledge-intensive sectors led to a 60% citywide enhancement in productivity over the past two decades, according to Centre for Cities research.
Fast forward to now, Dundee’s gaming sector refuses to rest on its laurels following 40 years of success. With the seeds of a strong gaming ecosystem planted by studios like Rockstar (formerly DMA Design) decades ago, successful spin-outs and start-ups have continued to foster innovation and growth.
The cultivation of this vibrant and ever-expanding sector in Dundee has led to it becoming the UK city with the highest concentration of gaming companies per working-age population, according to the Centre for Cities. Moreover, the innovations stemming from the gaming industry are contributing to the growth of associated industries including screen and entertainment, and diverse sectors such as healthcare.
Highlighting the importance of the sector for the future of the Scottish economy, the Scottish Government announced the creation of a National Games Strategy in early 2024. A collaboration with the Scottish Games Network, CodeBase and Techscaler, details of the action plan are yet to come but as the beating heart of Scotland’s gaming sector, Dundee will certainly play a central role.
The ripple effect
Dundee’s gaming industry has contributed heavily to the city’s wider innovation ecosystem. One example is the screen sector, where a ground-breaking technique using gaming technology was used to bring virtual production together with wireless 5G communications. Supported by the Tay Cities Deal Tay5G project, this technique enable films to be shot in real-time in two distinct places, as though actors and crew were in the same place. Led by Abertay University in Dundee, a successful test sequence was carried out between Dundee and Manchester.
Virtual production is the combination of game engine technology with live filming of real or imagined environments projected on LED screens. It has been used for several well-known productions, such as Disney’s The Mandalorian series and famously in the ABBA Voyage live concert in London. Abertay’s long history in games technology and development has enabled it to be perfectly positioned to play a lead role in this new production trend.
Another case study is the CoSTAR programme, which is funding a cutting-edge R&D lab in Dundee for screen industries and virtual production. This is one of four centres across the UK funded in part by £63 million in new industry investment and £75.6 million in UK Government financing. Abertay is also part of the lead centre helmed by Royal Holloway University of London with facilities at Pinewood Studios. It has brought together partners such as the University of Edinburgh, 4J Studios, TechScaler by CodeBase, and Interface to capitalise on cross-sector knowledge such as artificial intelligence (AI) to spur advancements in visual effects technologies.
Dundee remains home to global gaming giants such as Rockstar, Outplay Entertainment, 4J Studios, and Hutch, the latter of which was acquired by MTG as part of a £375m deal in 2020, as well as innovative SMEs such as Konglomerate Games, which creates games for healthcare and medicine, such as physiotherapy games for children with Cystic Fibrosis. Another local spin-out, Team Terrible, released its viral megahit game The Baby in Yellow in 2020, which has had more than 170 million downloads.
Investing in the future
There is a collaborative effort to lay the groundwork now for Dundee’s digital innovation ecosystem to continue flourishing in years to come. For example, InGAME, one of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s nine Creative Industries Cluster Programmes was established in 2018 for this purpose. Led by Abertay University in partnership with Dundee University and the University of St Andrews, InGAME is dedicated to collaborative R&D that will expand the scope and significance of Dundee’s existing gaming cluster. It is projected to generate a total of £84.7 million GVA for the Scottish economy over a ten-year period.
In addition to nurturing innovation and collaboration, Dundee is equally investing in education to support a strong homegrown skills base and foster entrepreneurship. At the beginning of 2023, Dundee & Angus College, in partnership with Esports Scotland, launched the first-of-its-kind foundation degree in esports and creative industries.
Together with Dundee’s strong standing in knowledge-intensive sectors like digital technology, life sciences, agritech, and the energy transition, its gaming industry serves as a cornerstone of the Tay Cities region’s economic growth and prosperity.
As a gaming destination with a strong track record of fostering successful companies, Dundee continues to attract more businesses looking to start-up and scale-up. With a growing reputation and compelling value proposition for investors, businesses, and talent, Dundee is on track to keep carving out an even bigger share of the £254 billion global gaming industry in the years ahead.
Brian Baglow, founder the Scottish Games Network, said:
Dundee is recognised worldwide as a global gaming hub – and for good reason. It was one of the first hotbeds of game development anywhere in the UK and is responsible for an incredible number of influential games, from the original Lemmings, to GTA, Crackdown, APB and Minecraft. Alongside those huge brands and franchises, the indie scene in the city has grown and flourished, aided by the work being done and new talent created at Abertay University, all making Dundee a driving force in the UK’s flourishing games ecosystem.
The city continues to work on the cutting edge of the global games market. Up-and-coming games studios such as Team Terrible are joined by developers working on areas from mixed reality and immersive technologies, like Pocket Sized Hands, through to art-based installation and experiential games such as those by Biome Collective. Dundee is perfectly positioned to be a major player – and producer – of games whatever and wherever the incredible games world goes in the future.
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